1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to database management systems performed by computers, and in particular, to systems that process data within database management systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Databases are computerized information storage and retrieval systems. A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) which uses relational techniques for storing and retrieving data. Relational databases are organized into tables which consist of rows and columns of data. The rows are formally called tuples. A database will typically have many tables and each table will typically have multiple tuples and multiple columns. The tables are typically stored on random access storage devices (RASD) such as magnetic or optical disk drives for semi-permanent storage.
In recent years DBMSs have become increasingly popular for several factors, including the decrease in the cost of storage devices and the increased need to store and track electronic information. As DBMSs become increasingly popular, more and more data is stored in databases, and handling, storing, analyzing, archiving, moving, and collating the data becomes more of a concern to those utilizing such data.
To manage this increasing data load various software aids, sometimes referred to as utilities, have been developed. One thing that utilities have in common is that utilities assist users in managing data. They may be simple, such as a back up utility, which merely copies several files. They may be more complex, such as a structured query language interface, which has evolved into a standardized mechanism for manipulating data. They also may be complex and sophisticated on line analytical processing programs (OLAP) which are designed to do complex analytical processing.
Relational DataBase Management System (RDBMS) software using a Structured Query Language (SQL) interface is well known in the art. The SQL interface has evolved into a standard language for RDBMS software and has been adopted as such by both the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standards Organization (ISO).
Today, a DBMS can instead be an object-oriented database management system (OODBMS). An object-oriented database is organized into objects having members that can be pointers to other objects. One of the key features of an OODMBS is the ability to navigate between objects using these pointers. Additionally, an object can have relationships to other objects. The objects contain references, and collections of references, to other objects in the database, thus leading to databases with complex nested structures.
Different types of data, relational and object, are being stored in data warehouses. The term xe2x80x9cdata warehousexe2x80x9d is used to describe large amounts of related data that are stored together. With the increased data that is stored, there has been an increasing complexity in using, retrieving, sorting and organizing data and the proliferation of number and complexity of utilities increasing skill is being demanded of those who use the databases. In addition because of the multiple uses of data within organizations, the same or closely related analyses can be repeated by different users, thereby giving rise to inefficiency as the effort that is used in one analysis is often repeated in another analysis.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved architecture which enables users to more easily work with utilities that operate within data warehouses.
To overcome the limitations in the prior art described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, the present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for a data warehouse programs architecture.
Data in a database stored on a data storage device is transformed. Initially, a program template is retrieved that contains parameters. A business view is invoked with the program template. Under control of the business view, a transformation program is invoked that transforms data at a source to generate data at a target using the parameters provided in the program template.